Georgia teammates confident in Carson Beck as he makes first career start

ATHENS, Ga. — Carson Beck will make his first career start in a little over 48 hours, but both he and those around him are feeling far from nervous. That’s a good thing to hear if you’re a Georgia fan wanting to see Beck take the world by storm this fall and maybe concerning if you’re a fan of another college football team trying to take down the Dawgs.

“Obviously, it means a lot,” Beck told reporters last week about being named QB1 in his fourth season. “I’ve put in a lot of time, work, effort. I’ve been grinding the past four years and to finally see that come into fruition and pay off, it’s a really exciting time.”

“This whole entire year I’ve been working for it, grinding for it, and I kind of expected that for myself. But to actually hear it go live, it meant a lot to me,” he added. “It’s something to see all the hard work pay off. Like I’ve been saying this whole time, sometimes it’s hard to be patient in a world where everything’s so immediate with social media and the internet. Everybody wants stuff now, but seeing that patience pay off hit home for me.”

Beck will be surrounded by an offense filled with talent. Up front, it’s an offensive line that returns four players with starting experience including a center, Sedrick Van Pran, that’s been there the entire time for Georgia on its back-to-back National Championship run. Van Pran and Beck were both members of the Class of 2020, and the two are excited to finally get to work together.

“It’s obviously a different relationship, everybody’s different and everybody has their own unique set of ways they like to do things. With Carson, the biggest thing has just been making sure that we’re both seeing things and communicating about it,” Van Pran said this week. “I think a lot of times on the field, you kind of get into a funk where you may just get caught up in doing your job. I think it’s really important to make sure that you’re communicating with the guy behind you, or in his case in front of you, to make sure that you’re both seeing things.”

“Really familiar with each other,” Van Pran continued. “We kind of came in with each other so it’s been pretty good. I’ve really enjoyed it. He jokingly says that we’re back reunited so it’s really good to have him back there and work with him.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart sees the familiarity play out on a daily basis. He’s seen Beck be comfortable with calls that Van Pran makes, knowing he’s been there before, and Van Pran and the rest of the offensive line learning to pick up on things the new starting quarterback identifies too.

“He doesn’t have to rely on Sedrick like maybe a new quarterback would, because I don’t see Carson that way. He understands it. He gets it. He’s had a ton of reps,” Smart said. “I think the fact that he’s got somebody who’s played in big moments, somebody who has snapped the ball in tough environments is comforting. But as far as what Sedrick provides for Carson is probably reassurance.”

Van Pran’s fellow offensive lineman, right guard Tate Ratledge said that the confidence for each individual in the quarterback and the offense has to first come from within. No matter who’s on the field, individually they have to be ready to roll to help the team out in whatever way is asked of them. Still, he too sees the development in Beck’s comfort since taking over as the team’s primary quarterback in the spring.

“I think that we learned that we have to have confidence in ourselves, first off, no matter who’s on the field with us. Without us, things don’t really roll,” Ratledge said.

“With Carson being back there, just the progression of being with him since spring and going into fall camp and taking more reps and more reps and him changing protections and him really taking control of the offense has really helped us with having trust in him behind us.”

As for the wide receivers that’ll be catching Beck’s passes, they too are believers in Beck. Whether it’s an exciting new transfer like Dominic Lovett from Missouri, returnees who have produced in the past like Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers or somebody who still has yet to reach full potential like Arian Smith, Beck should be confident in throwing to them just as they are in catching passes from him.

“Me and Carson know each other pretty good. Obviously we’re the same class. We both got recruited at the same time and we’re from the same state. I feel like our relationship has grown more than what it was,” Smith said. “Just dependability. I can count on him to know what to do, where the ball’s going to be, things like that.”

“I think a big thing for him was the confidence I guess that he developed through fall camp. I feel like he just got faster and faster at, like, making his reads. I mean, the more reps you take the better you’re going to be, so I think that helped him a lot. I think the confidence thing is a huge deal for him,” Bowers said. “I just feel like he’s playing the game faster and just a faster pace I guess, and that’s what he needs to be doing to just play quarterback here. So I’m excited to see what he’ll do Saturday and this year.”

Beck’s first start comes under the bright lights of a Sanford Stadium night game. Kickoff time for the opener in Athens is set for 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and SEC Network+ as the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs take on FCS opponent UT-Martin.